Holy Laughter

WED., AUG. 14, 1991, 6:34 AM
FARM, STUDY

The meaning of this title is not clear to you, and therefore you have repeatedly rejected it. It’s obvious that tomorrow you shall commence an early weekend experience entitled The Kingdom of God Is a Party, so this must have some influence on this morning’s title. Yes, o son, I must offer you yet another reassurance that laughter definitely is part of My creation. I have a sense of fun and humor, and therefore there must be holy laughter.

This Fellowship, of which you have been a spiritual part for some years, will now become more tangible. You shall meet others who have much trust in Me as a “laughing Lord.” You don’t know quite what to expect, but it should be fun, and that must be good.

Again I must encourage you to read Holy Scripture, both for its serious content and for its potential as a source of laughter. For example, the Scripture for this last Sunday, that you still remember, involved Paul’s muse about himself and sin. He moaned that the good that he wanted to do he could not, and the sinful acts came easy. Therefore, evil must be responsible. Now this is a serious theological discourse, because it justified the reason for My sacrifice, as Jesus, that grace may abound. No human can be perfect by her own will power, but sin can be overcome by My grace, freely given.

Now consider the funny side. I have created humans, and I continue to do so, as creatures who know what is right but often cannot do it. It is absurd to suggest that you never can do what is right and always are doing what is wrong. What a bizarre Creator that would make Me! But here is Paul dramatically, exaggerating his sinful nature, describing himself as a human yoyo, being alternately pulled to what is right and then to what is sinful. But he is rescued by grace, but for how long? Apparently only until another conflict arises. So, in the midst of this serious spiritual dilemma, send forth some holy laughter.

Paul “does it again” later in the same letter. He talks about eating meat and drinking wine and the effects these behaviors (and presumably others like and worse than these) can have on a “weaker brother.” His ringing spiritual conclusion is that you should do none of these (or anything) that would cause this weaker brother to stumble. Seriously, this calls on all Christians to be righteous examples, thinking always of the welfare of others. Humorously, it calls on you to be continually assessing the weaknesses of those you are with and frantically being the other-directed model, particularly with a group of “weakers.” Because he, even, is struck with the exaggeration of righteousness he has pictured, he says, Don’t let what is good to you be called evil by others. And he just leaves the Romans with this nice contradiction. That deserves both serious contemplation and more holy laughter.

It also makes Me smile (and you should too) when middle-class, rational Christians just accept the description of a seraphim by Isaiah. It is a creature with six wings, two to cover the face, two to cover the feet, and two with which to fly. This is supposed to be a holy creature, but picture this, realistically. Does he take the wings away from his face as he flies? What do these other four wings do as he flies? Where does he fly to? Where do seraphim gather? Is it a high spiritual calling to be a seraphim? These are questions that provoke holy laughter.

You are doing well in selecting bits of humor from the JNL to interject into your own church newsletter. The church, its Scriptures, its education, and its congregational life all have their humorous side, and you should keep reminding your fellow Presbyterians of this.

Your leg is both a cause for serious concern and a basis for joyful mirth. You have a disability, a partial death (hopefully temporary). Let this remind you of the 65 years of full functioning that you have had. Can you deal with this departure with pleasure for what you have enjoyed?

Mirthfully
7:43 AM